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DNA advances help police identify 17 people buried in unmarked graves

Seventeen people who were buried in unmarked graves in Amsterdam over the last three decades have been identified thanks to new advances in DNA techniques.

Police reopened a total of 91 ‘cold cases’ in the light of plans to clear up the cemetery at Sint Barbara, where unidentified bodies are buried.

‘By establishing a person’s identity we can allow their relatives to complete the grieving process,’ said Amsterdam police team leader Theo Vermeulen.

Most of the dead are people who disappeared without trace rather than victims of crime.

Among them was a German man who was reported missing by his family in 2001. He was found dead on the Nieuwe Hemweg after taking an overdose of pills, but until now his relatives were unaware of his fate.

The identified bodies have been reburied in a separate area of the Sint Barbara cemetery.

Source: AT5: Cold Case-team identificeert 17 doden

Photo by Reinier Sierag